The sleeper car train was a trip. 4 bunks in our cabin. They give you pillows and blankets (who knows the last time they were cleaned) and “rent” you sheets for 100 rupees which is about $1.50. The chai wallah comes by very often and each chai tastes a little different and costs different, either 10 or 20 rupees ($.15 or $.30 per tiny cup.) We tried to order a Domino pizza (Ha!) that they deliver at one of the stops but the site would not take our credit card so we ordered the train meal and it was really bad but you can’t complain too much about something that cost $1.50 and they wouldn’t understand you anyways. There was a lock on our door which was required by me because I had heard stories about people waking up to strange Indian men spooning them. There were 4 bathrooms available and I tried 1, 2, and 3 and all were pit toilets which I had managed to avoid thus far. Later on my second trip, I tried door 4 and it was a Western toilet which still dumps straight onto the tracks. At a stop about half way, another couple came into the cabin as they had a reservation in the same cabin. That was it for sleep for both of us. Buzz sat up the rest of the way and I laid down with my feet on his lap as neither of us wanted to climb into the top bunk.

We were deposited in our destination, Jaisalmer (a desert town in far Western India, about 45 miles from the border with Pakistan.) at 11:30am into the craziness of the station after a 17 hour ride. Dozens and dozens of men standing outside shouting at you for taxi, tuk tuk, hotel, tours, etc. We found a taxi at the price we were willing to pay and he dropped us off at our hotel while trying to sell us on another hotel. The Golden Marigold hotel is a 5 room hotel and we have one of the 2 air conditioned rooms. Lots of good that has done us since the power is going off all the time. We only had about an hour worth of power from this morning until this evening. And at 107 degrees, it makes a difference. Fortunately there is usually a lovely breeze blowing so we go and hang out on the rooftop. The hotel is owned by an Indian and his British wife who are off in England right now and have left three  20-somethings in charge… one is the younger brother of the owner but Manu is in charge and he is 22 and loves to cook. Aman (the brother) and Sumar are his sidekicks and they are constantly asking if they can do things for us, make us chai, make us lunch, take us sightseeing, you name it. It is cute (and obnoxious) at the same time.

We crashed for a bit after our sleepless night on the train and headed into town with our tuk tuk driver Burket (the 4^th Musketeer) took us to get our Indian sim card straightened out. It was a relief to finally get that taken care of so we could make/receive calls and have internet on the phone for reservations, etc. We crashed early because of the heat. Wednesday we walked around and did some shopping without buying. Lots of textile places but it is all material that you had to have made into something and I am not interested in doing that. This place is just so hard to describe. All the buildings are made out of a golden sandstone and have intricate carvings on them. The architecture is absolutely astounding.  Then in front of them there are cows wandering and pooping all over the streets, pigs, too. There is an open channel running down all the streets which catches all the gray water. We think there are clay pots that catch the solids but are not 100% sure. It really doesn’t smell too bad here considering that and the heat but it does not smell very pleasant. But being from Lancaster County, we got used to it quickly :-)  The traffic here challenges Delhi’s craziness. Many less cars but add in all the “free range” cows, sheep, goats and the stray dogs everywhere and you have a recipe for craziness. There is no such thing a right of way here. If you are making a turn and crossing traffic to do it, you don’t wait on the side street until it is safe to go. You go gung ho and blow your horn and somehow it all works. People go the wrong way when it is too hard to go the right way. They make U-turns in the middle of the street and go the wrong way until they can get in the right lane. It is freaking unbelievable. Yet we have seen no accidents and no one gives any one a dirty look or yells; they just deal with whatever the problem is and move on.

Thursday, September 22^nd, was our 37th wedding anniversary and we decided to celebrate it by going on a camel safari. We hopped (not really the right word because it makes it sound easy and it is not) on the camels about 4pm ( you have no idea how big those animals are until he stands up and you are so high off the ground!) and rode for about an hour to our camp. There are no stirrups for your feet; your legs just hang there.  Camels are wider than horses so it is a good pelvic stretch. You have to kind of roll with the gate and going uphill is no problem but I did not like going downhill. You have to lean way back and they go faster downhill and their whole gate changes. I had to tell our guide to slow it down on the hills, I was certain I was heading for the ground which is a very long way away…they are damn big animals!

Buzz and I were the only two on our ride but at the campsite which is in the desert on the dunes about 30 miles from the border with Pakistan, we caught up with 4 others, a Spanish couple, a Malaysian woman, and a young Indian from the south. Our guides started a fire and made us chai which they drink scalding hot, and appetizers (kind of like those puffed air snacks but they heated then over the fire) and a dinner of vegetable curry, rice and chopati (like naan or pita, that you use as your utensils).

We slept on cots which were raised about 12 inches off the ground (my one stipulation because I was not sleeping on the sand with all the creepy crawlies and there was a ton of dung beetles crawling everywhere. Buzz’s blanket touched the ground at one point and a dung beetle climbed into bed with him! Look at the tracks they make!) They do indeed push camel dung back to their holes in the sand as you can see from the video.

We watched the sunset then watched the stars. Now we were not really far into the desert but we were way out in the country and were surprised how much light pollution there was from the surrounding small villages. It got chilly enough to have to use the blankets we were given. For the first 5 hours or so after we went to bed, we listened to singing and music from a town several kilometers away. After that we heard music farther off, but through most of the night. Hearing it wafting over the dunes while watching the stars was surreal.

We watched sunrise from bed

and then were called to a breakfast of toast and hard boiled eggs. We saddled up again and rode the camels back for about an hour. It was much easier the second day.

We rode past a few tent resorts and a gypsy village. We were back at our electric free hotel by 10am. Cold showers in the dark were the first order of business! We headed up to the rooftop for a bit then took naps.

We then headed to the fort in Jaislamer. It is 1000 years old and huge. We were very glad to see that there are preservation effort in progress. You can rent an audio tour in English and it is quite well done. You also have to pay 100 rupees to take photos. One guard asked us where we were from and we told him and he asked if we had any American money that he could see. So I whipped out a dollar and gave it to him. We talked about how much it was worth in Rupees (about 65). Now he might do this to everyone but the joy that lit up his face….he was a very good actor or very sincerely thrilled. We felt we made his day!

Much of the city is enclosed in the fort which has tiny streets that are not more than maybe 10 feet wide in parts yet still you are competing with motor bikes and cows, etc.

We shopped around after touring the Haveli (mansion or palace) and I bought a cool carved wooden stamp and we had supper at a rooftop restaurant and watched the sunset. Wow, I just realized we saw the sunrise and the sunset today! Then Burkit, our tuk tuk driver, took us to a tailor so Buzz could buy a Salwar suit which is traditional Muslim outfit for men (see the guys on the right in the second picture for an idea of what it looks like)….actually a pretty fancy pair that he will probably use for around the house (or maybe a Halloween costume.)

Friday we had Manu cook us a delicious Indian breakfast. Food service here is not fast. Refrigeration is at a premium so they buy and cook everything fresh. So you always have to wait at least 20 minutes once you order. Then we headed to a shop I had found on Trip Advisor (there are Trip Advisor signs everywhere!) I wanted a scarf for my head and this shop is known for less aggressive selling and the Trip Advisor reviewers were right. He made us chai; he let us look around and he pulled out tons of scarves for me to inspect. Of course, I picked a very expensive hand embroidered one. I asked him if he had any clothes to fit me and before I knew it I was being measured for a custom salwar and kameez (pants and long top). They did a great job and it fits perfectly!

Then we headed back to the fort area and just walked around; the place is amazing. It is kind of like the Indian version of Venice; the streets get smaller and smaller as you go yet still have the same congestion. We went into a little grocery store and bought some masala tea and then had lunch at a very pleasant, very clean restaurant with a great view of the fort. We split a Thali, which is a plate that comes with chapatti and pandum (two types of bread, one crisp) and paneer and a curry and rice and dal and this one had a mix of beans and peas, some of which grow in the dessert. It was tasty but a little too twiggy for me. We also had Lassi (yogurt smoothies) me banana and Buzz lemon. One of the staff sat down at the table next to us and we chatted about our countries relations and travel. I have to tell you, whether or not you like Obama, everyone who hears we are from the US says, “Obama!” Obama and the Prime Minister of India have a good relationship and India seems to feel pretty good about the US.

Also, they are TripAdvisor crazy here!!! You see signs for it everywhere! (Most of them are BS, bought from a stand)